Un-Braiding the Grounder
by live-in-dreamland1
Summary: Clarke comes home and Bellamy finds himself seated at the camp fire with her, his hands in her hair as he undoes her braids. Bellarke


So there was a picture posted of Clarke in her grounder get up. And obviously this means that there must be a fic where Bellamy undoes that for her. It just calls for a sweet moment. So here is said sweet moment.

* * *

 **Unbraiding the Grounder**

They find Clarke standing outside the gates one night. At first she is unrecognisable, everyone thinking her to be a grounder. Bellamy is the first to recognise her, his gun dropping.

'Clarke?' he calls out, his voice tentative. Clarke gives a weak smile in response, bringing a hand up to wave at them. There are shouts to open up the gate and before he knows it, Clarke is in the camp, surrounded by everyone. Jasper and Octavia still harbour some ill feelings towards Clarke, as they only nod in her direction before walking but Clarke appears to take it in stride. When she finally approaches him, she looks hesitant.

'Hi,' she says. Bellamy tries to contain his grin at how nervous she is.

'You came back,' he states.

'Yeah… I umm…' Clarke trails off, not able to find the words she wants to say. Bellamy does let a little laugh escape this time and brings a hand up to her shoulder.

'It's good to see you,' he says and Clarke whips her head up to look at him. After a moment, she smiles up at him and a semblance of normality washes over the two. Their names are suddenly called out and the moment between them is gone. They give each other a smile before walking away, both glancing over their shoulder when the other isn't looking.

* * *

When Bellamy is finally finished for the night, he heads in the direction their makeshift dining hall, his footsteps pausing when he sees a lone figure sitting by the fire. He knows without a doubt that the person is Clarke and his mind is made up for him. He changes direction and heads towards her.

'Clarke?' Bellamy's voice is soft as he approaches. Clarke jumps a little and look at up him, giving him a weak smile.

'Hey,' she replies, her hand coming up to run over one of the new braids in her hair. Bellamy looks at her as he sits down, noticing the untouched plate of food by her feet along with a damp rag.

'You know you're welcome to eat with everyone else.'

Clarke flinches at the statement before she shakes her head.

'I'm fine out here.'

'Clarke,' Bellamy sighs. Its not exasperated Clarke notices, but sad.

'Really Bellamy, I'm okay.'

'You don't have to lie to me Clarke,' Bellamy said, his voice both stern and soft. Clarke stared at him, perhaps a moment too long as his brow furrowed slightly. Clarke could feel the sting of tears in her eyes and turned her head away. Taking a deep breath, Clarke turned her eyes towards the fire, blinking rapidly.

'I'm not…' Clarke trailed off, finding herself unable to lie to Bellamy's face. Bellamy watched Clarke, watched her stare intensely into the fire as a hand came up to rub against a knot in her shoulder. Straightening himself, Bellamy opens his legs slightly and gestures for Clarke to sit between them.

'Sit here.'

'Why?' Clarke asks as she turns to him, her gaze wary.

'Just trust me Clarke,' Bellamy says. He doesn't speak again, knowing that Clarke needs to make the decision on her own. She needs to rebuild her trust in him herself, despite him never having broken it in the first place. Eventually Clarke moves, sliding off of the log and shuffling into the space between Bellamy's legs. Immediately Bellamy brings his hands up to her shoulders and starts to rub at the knots there. Clarke stiffens for a brief moment before relaxing into the hold.

They're silent as Bellamy rubs away the tension. Clarke finds herself leaning a little more heavily against Bellamy's leg and his hands have left her shoulders to rub at her neck and up into her hair. Bellamy finds himself studying her hairstyle, running his fingers over some of the braids. He feels Clarke pause, see's her hands clench into tight fists.

'May I?' he asks, his voice soft. It feels like an eternity before Clarke nods but when she does, Bellamy releases a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He brings his hands up and picks up one braid, untying the end and slowly unbraiding it.

Clarke closes her eyes as Bellamy undoes everything she had done to forget who she was. The tears slip down her cheeks without warning but Clarke does nothing to alert Bellamy to her turmoil.

As the braids unravel, Bellamy manages to keep the motions soothing, kneading her scalp. He wishes he could see Clarke's face, wanting to know what was going through her mind. The new tension in her shoulders has nothing to do with a weight on her shoulders. It is everything to do with her becoming vulnerable with him, something that hasn't happened to this magnitude since landing on earth.

Clarke doesn't wince when Bellamy needs to tug at her hair to remove the tangles. Bellamy murmurs apologies but his hands never stop moving. Even once all the braids are gone, Bellamy continues to run his hand through her hair, not willing to move until Clarke tells him to. Now that he isn't concentrating on her hair, Bellamy moves his head slightly to try and look at her face.

Clarke releases a ragged breath when her hair falls around her face and the tears slip out more constantly now. She brings a hand up to wipe under her eyes and Bellamy catches the motion. He moves quickly, shifting to sit on the ground next to Clarke.

'Hey,' Bellamy says as he brings a hand up to wipe away the tears. Clarke tries to pull away but Bellamy holds her still.

'Don't…'

'Stop running Clarke,' Bellamy says in a firm voice. 'It's time for you to come home.'

As Clarke look at him, it becomes apparently Bellamy that Clarke hadn't allowed herself any time to grieve what had happed. Her eyes widen in slight panic and her breath starts to come out harsher. He can see her working hard to push everything down again but Bellamy won't let her. His hands come up to cup her face and make her look at him.

'It's okay to cry Clarke.' His voice is barely above a whisper but it's enough for Clarke to crack. Her lip wobbles and a sob escapes her. Bellamy moves his hand to the back of her head and brings her in close. Clarke buries her face in his chest as she cries. Her arms wrap around him, holding him tightly as everything she had pushed away bubbled up to the surface. Bellamy holds her just as tightly, whispering soothing words to her. Neither of them notice Octavia and Abby standing by the tree line, watching the scene unfold with different expressions. Abby watches with a forlorn expression, no parent ever wanting to see their child hurt so much. Octavia keeps her features schooled, unsure of what she is feeling at the moment. But the longer she keeps watching, the more she sees her brother returning to himself. It wasn't hard to see that he had lost a part of himself when Clarke had walked away. Both women eventually walk away, not wanting to intrude any longer on the private moment.

Clarke's sobs soon turn into whimpers, which soon turn into quiet breaths. Through it all, Clarke doesn't relinquish her hold on Bellamy. His arms make her feel safe, make her feel like herself. When Bellamy presses his lips against her forehead, Clarke finds herself snuggling closer without realising.

'I don't want to leave again,' Clarke whispers when she finds her voice. Bellamy runs his hand through her hair again, not missing the shiver that runs through Clarke's body as he does so. He smiles to himself, knowing that now is not the time to dwell on such things.

'Then don't.'

'But the others?'

'Want you come home,' Bellamy finishes for her. 'It's time to come home.'

Clarke pushes away from him to look at his face but doesn't leave the embrace. She searches his eyes, trying to find a hint of a lie but finds nothing. While she is silent, Bellamy finds the rag beside them and brings it up to her face, gently wiping away the paint around her eyes. The intimacy of the moment is not lost on either of them as Bellamy finishes, moving the cloth away.

'Okay,' Clarke finally says in a small voice. Bellamy smiles and raises a hand to brush some of her hair out of her face, this time watching her reaction. Clarke closes her eyes and leans briefly into the touch before opening them and looking at him. Eventually Clarke gives him a small smile before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Bellamy gets a sense of déjà vu, however he can distinctly remember that the kiss Clarke had given him before wasn't as close to his lips as the kiss Clarke had given him now. She had kissed him dangerously close to his mouth this time and when Bellamy looked at Clarke and saw the blush, it became clear that it hadn't been her intent. Bellamy just smiled and leaned back against the log, pulling Clarke with him. They settled down comfortably in front of the fire, silently agreeing that everything could wait until morning. For now, they were going to revel in a moment they never thought they would be able to have. And if Bellamy found himself pressing the occasional kiss to Clarke's forehead as they sat there, well, they could address that tomorrow as well.

The End.


End file.
